Self-Verifying AI, Accessible Auth, and Platform Shifts
NEWSLETTER | Amplifi Labs
DeepSeekMath-V2 Debuts Self-Verifying Proofs, Aces IMO and Putnam
Around the web • December 1, 2025
DeepSeekMath-V2 introduces a self-verifying pipeline for math reasoning: an LLM-based proof verifier is trained first and then used as a reward model to teach a proof generator to iteratively find and fix errors, with scaled verification compute preserving a robust verifier–generator gap. With scaled test-time compute, it reached gold-level on IMO 2025 and CMO 2024 and scored 118/120 on Putnam 2024. Released under Apache 2.0 and built on DeepSeek‑V3.2‑Exp‑Base, it signals a shift from final-answer RL toward auditable, trustworthy reasoning for formal math and scientific workflows. Selected as the featured story for its high significance and open-source impact on trustworthy AI tooling.
Developer Experience: Accessible Auth, Cheap Hosting, and Design Culture
Stop Shipping CAPTCHAs: Accessible, Bot-Resistant Authentication That Works
Smashing Magazine •November 27, 2025
CAPTCHAs increasingly block disabled users while underperforming at bot defense—studies show bots solve text and image challenges with 85–100% accuracy, while humans waste significant time (819M hours on reCAPTCHA v2) and fail more often. For production apps, adopt accessible patterns like MFA via push/SMS with code autofill and “remember device,” SSO, magic links without time limits (WCAG 2.2.3), or Cloudflare Turnstile, and always provide multiple options and test with real users.
Trifold simplifies ultra‑cheap static site hosting via bunny.net CDN
Around the web •December 1, 2025
Trifold is a new CLI that deploys static sites to a CDN (currently bunny.net) without touching a web UI, handling project init, file sync with cache purge, custom domains with SSL, redirects via edge functions, and monthly spend caps. It targets devs frustrated with shrinking free tiers, offering predictable, low-cost hosting starting around $0.01/GB for storage and bandwidth (e.g., ~50GB for ~$0.50). Works with generators like Hugo, Zola, and Quarto, and installs via uvx or standard Python tools; the project is open source on Codeberg.
Why Culture, Not Components, Determines Design System Maturity
Smashing Magazine •November 25, 2025
Smashing Magazine shares an excerpt from Ben Callahan’s upcoming book arguing that design system success depends more on cultural alignment than on tokens and components. Using Edgar Schein’s model (artifacts, espoused values, underlying assumptions), it offers a framework to diagnose weak vs. strong cultures and explains how misalignment stalls adoption. For teams building or scaling systems, the takeaway is to invest in change management and align behaviors with stated values to drive sustainable adoption and better decision-making.
Platforms & Ops: Self-Hosting Lessons, Ops Drills, and Hardware Pricing
Five Years Self-Hosting Matrix: Synapse Gotchas, ESS Trade-offs
Around the web •December 1, 2025
A long-term self-host recounts running Synapse with PostgreSQL and coturn for a small user base, citing operational pain points: hard-to-disable federation, persistent rooms/media, an ever-growing state table, no true account deletion, and the need for ongoing database cleanup. With Element shifting to the Kubernetes-based Element Server Suite (min ~2 CPU/2GB) and Element X requiring sliding sync and Element Call for video-first calling, the post argues Matrix’s small-server experience has become heavier—even as the WhatsApp bridge remains solid—prompting consideration of XMPP/Snikket instead.
Advent of Sysadmin 2025 debuts 12-day Linux/DevOps challenge
Around the web •November 30, 2025
A 12-day Advent calendar of Linux and DevOps challenges runs Dec 1–12, with a new scenario released daily. Day 1 focuses on fixing a Docker+nginx reverse proxy that should route traffic to two static containers—useful practice in container networking and proxy troubleshooting. Free sign-up tracks progress, offering quick, time-boxed exercises for ops and platform engineers.
Raspberry Pi 5 adds $45 1GB model amid memory price hikes
Around the web •December 1, 2025
Raspberry Pi introduced a $45 1GB Raspberry Pi 5 while raising prices across higher‑memory Pi 4/5 boards due to LPDDR4 cost spikes driven by AI infrastructure demand. Effective immediately: Pi 5—2GB $55, 4GB $70, 8GB $95, 16GB $145; Pi 4—4GB $60, 8GB $85; Compute Module 5 (16GB) up $20, with earlier models and lower‑density variants unchanged. Expect higher BOM costs for memory‑heavy edge builds; the 1GB Pi 5 offers a cheaper option for lightweight workloads as the company aims to unwind hikes if supply pressures ease into 2026.
Tools & Events: AI-Era Search, Coding Traditions, and Custom Desktops
Extension limits Google results to pre‑ChatGPT, human‑authored content
Around the web •December 1, 2025
A new Chrome/Firefox browser extension uses the Google Search API to restrict results to pages published before Nov 30, 2022—ChatGPT’s public launch. It helps developers and researchers avoid AI‑generated “slop” and surface human‑written docs, tutorials, and citations when provenance matters, trading freshness for authenticity.
Advent of Code 2025 trims schedule, retires global leaderboard
Around the web •November 30, 2025
Advent of Code 2025 returns with a shorter event that now ends in mid-December, retires the global leaderboard, and continues nightly puzzle releases at midnight EST (UTC−5). The focus shifts to personal learning and team play via private leaderboards (with optional read-only sharing) and explicitly discourages AI-assisted solving; problems remain language-agnostic and lightweight—useful for team training and interview prep. Note the IP rules: link to puzzles, but don’t redistribute puzzle text or inputs in repositories.
Browser-Driven Linux Window Manager with CEF and OpenGL
Around the web •November 30, 2025
DoteWM turns Chrome into the desktop chrome: window decorations and interactions are authored in HTML/CSS/JS while a separate C++ X11 compositing manager renders application windows via OpenGL. The browser and window manager communicate via CEF’s cefQuery plus Protobuf over nanomsg (PAIR) with credit-based flow control, enabling real-time events and features like cropped browser textures for borders and base64-encoded icons. Open-source with AUR packaging and demo templates (React, dreamland.js), it lowers the barrier to building custom WMs and hints at future Wayland support and tighter browser/WM synchronization.
